“Display homes are designed to be inspirational, yet achievable.” - Angela Haughton, National Display and Design Manager at Coral Homes.

At Lovelight, we pride ourselves on our strong relationships with many of Australia’s biggest builders. This month we thought we would give you a closer look inside the process of designing a display home by talking to Angela Haughton from multi-award-winning home builder, Coral homes. Coral Homes offers its customers a range of affordable, stylish and innovative single and double-storey designs across Queensland and New South Wales.

To understand how a builder creates a display home we took a closer look at Coral’s Lisbon 31 MKII, which Angela told us was “designed with a modern family in mind.” To answer this brief the interior design team drew inspiration from multiple factors including travel, design periods from the past, architecture, fashion and designers from around the world. “We also take design cues from our suppliers, like Lovelight’s latest product and colour ranges as well as trends emerging from how we live here in Australia.”

The resulting home, which is part of their on-trend Modern Collection, is a celebration of modernist lines with a rich colour scheme that nods to a mid-century time period.  From the grand entry to the teak and walnut tones of the kitchen cabinetry and the kitchen island's curved batten detail, the Coral team are masters of layering textures in wallpapers, tiles, curtains and cabinetry.

Of course, when it comes to specifying their window furnishing, Coral relies on their strong relationship with the Lovelight team to continuously create simple, fresh and aspirational yet achievable displays. Angela said that she, “finds that elongated sheers like Lovelight’s are classic and beautifully frame a window, while welcoming in filtered light. Additionally, shutters finish a room and filter the light - perfect for coastal and traditional schemes.”

Display homes are just the first step in a client's journey with Coral. When it comes to specifying choices for their own homes, Angela said “we guide them to choose window furnishings based on practicality. It’s important to consider how the light works in the room and the purpose of the space. We then encourage our customers to have a common theme throughout the home, whether it’s the colour or the style. This creates a timeless flow. As with any soft furnishings, there is an opportunity to add some personality too - from something as simple as changing up the curtain rod colour, to brass or black, or even adding a deep contrasting hem to a white sheer.”

Throughout all their decisions, whether it’s for display homes or client homes, Angela believes that the most important things to consider when designing for the Australian climate are, “the orientation of the sun and how it works in the space as well as the purpose of the room. For rooms with heavy sun exposure, it’s important to consider the durability of the fabrics and linings.”